Press release

Fri, Aug 16th 2013 08:00 pm

The Big Mac

Western
New York residents to enjoy 330,000 free Big Macs

The
Big Mac sandwich - with its catchy jingle and elusive sauce
recipe - is celebrating its 45th birthday this
year. To honor this American icon, McDonald's restaurants across
Western New York are planning a special party featuring a tasteful
gift for thousands of Big Mac fans.

The
festivities kick off on Friday, Aug. 23, when:

•Local
McDonald's restaurants will begin a limited-time promotional offer:
"Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun"
for just $1.99.

•All
McDonald's restaurants across Western New York will provide their
first 100 customers over age 18 with a very special gift: One free
Big Mac sandwich every week for a year. That's 330,000free
Big Macs.

Some
historians credit the Russian Tartars, the first to eat ground beef,
as the inspiration behind the modern-day hamburger. Others say it was
German immigrants settling in Cincinnati during the early 1800s who
first brought the "hamburger" to America from across the
Atlantic.

Yet,
few would argue that perhaps the biggest universal impact on the
hamburger came from a Pittsburgh-area McDonald's franchisee named Jim
"MJ" Delligatti. It was Delligatti who added lettuce, cheese,
pickles, onions and, most importantly, the "secret sauce,"
to create one of the world's best known hamburgers: The Big Mac.

Delligatti
began test-marketing a seven-ingredient sandwich at his restaurant in
Uniontown, Pa., in 1967. Customer response was so good, he soon
introduced the sandwich at three more of his restaurants in
Pittsburgh. The sandwich rolled-out nationally in 1968.

"Many
local drive-ins were serving double-decker burgers at the time. So,
to broaden our customer base, I decided to create one of my own. ...
And I wanted it to be big!"

Consisting
of two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles,
onions on a sesame-seed bun, the Big Mac quickly gained popularity
and status as an American icon.

Perhaps
Delligatti's most tasteful addition to the Big Mac was the famous
secret sauce. Having worked in the restaurant business for a number
of years, Delligatti was familiar with the typical Russian dressing
used for many sandwiches. However, he knew the sauce for the Big Mac
had to be something special.

"I
would make the sauce in the restaurant by hand, mixing all the
ingredients together myself. It was hard work, but the customers
loved it," he recalled.

Keith
Reinhard, chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide, is credited with
developing the famous
"Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun"
Big Mac advertising promotion, in 1974. The jingle gained notoriety
when Max Cooper, a Birmingham, Ala., McDonald's franchisee, developed
a "man-on-the-street" promotion that rewarded customers who
could recite the jingle correctly in four seconds or less with a free
Big Mac. Those who faltered ended up in a local radio commercial in
1974 featuring the bloopers.

Today,
the Big Mac is sold in more than 100 countries around the world and
has become as synonymous with McDonald's as the "Golden Arches."
Approximately 550 million Big Mac sandwiches are sold each year in
America alone. Japan sells the second most Big Mac sandwiches
worldwide at approximately 150 million per year. The sandwich is sold
in more than 100 countries and, because of
its global presence, inspired The
Economist
Magazine's "Big
Mac Index," an annual
comparison of foreign currency values against the U.S. dollar.

About
McDonald's

McDonald's
is the world's leading global foodservice retailer with 34,500-plus
locations serving more than 69 million customers in more than 100
countries each day. More than 80 percent of McDonald's restaurants
worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women.